English railways, national railways
Durante el período conservador "República Conservadora (Argentina)") de la historia argentina tuvo lugar el apogeo del desarrollo de los ferrocarriles. Fue durante este período que las líneas de la zona central –la Pampa húmeda y zonas aledañas– quedaron en manos de las empresas privadas, en su mayor parte de capitales británicos, mientras que las zonas periféricas, donde las ganancias no estaban garantizadas, fueron atendidas por los ferrocarriles estatales, que en su casi totalidad utilizaban la trocha angosta de un metro.[38].
Advances and privatizations
By 1880, 5,836 kilometers of tracks had been built, of which 1,227 belonged to the State, 2,544 to the Andean Railway, 427 to the province of Buenos Aires and the rest was distributed among seven private companies. annual cargo, of which 90% of the passengers and 80% of the cargo transport belonged to the lines drawn in the Pampas region.
In 1883, a parallel line was added to the Argentine Central to the town of Casilda, the Santa Fe Western Railway. It had excellent yields because it crossed a purely cereal-growing area, with agricultural colonies.[40].
It was especially in that period that extreme liberal ideology replaced practical experience in running the State: nothing should remain in the hands of the State, everything should be privatized, regardless of whether it generated losses or generated profits. For this reason, the Andean and Northern railways were privatized,[41] and the province of Buenos Aires also privatized the Western Railway, justifying the operation not on practical problems, but on loyalty to a liberal ideology. It turned out to be a terrible business, not only because the value collected was much lower than the real value, nor because the rates were raised to the maximum level that clients were willing to bear. The worst thing was that not even all of the commitments were fulfilled, neither by the company, which left royalties and fees unpaid, nor by the State, which did not take the trouble to complain to the company, and which left a good part of the income from the sale and private operation of the company deposited without use in the bank.[42].
At the beginning of the 1890s the railway network reached 9,397 kilometers. The total private investment was 320 million gold pesos, of which 90% were of British origin and 10% of French origin.
From 1872 to 1897, the head of all the broad gauge lines that reached Buenos Aires – including the Buenos Aires to the Pacific, when it could arrive – was at the Buenos Aires Central Station, located just behind the Government House, next to the Taylor Customs House and the Passenger Dock of the Port. As time went by, complaints about the railway traffic on the edge of the city center increased, until a fire that occurred in 1897 facilitated the solution of the problem: the station was never rebuilt, the tracks that fed it were raised, and each of the lines moved its head to Retiro, Constitución or Once. companies. They also incorporated large workshops, warehouses, maneuvering yards, stations and space for a second track. All these facilities occupied more than 500 hectares, just within the Federal Capital.[44].
In 1900, Argentina was the country with the largest railway network in Latin America, and the eleventh in the world: there were already 16,500 kilometers of tracks in the country, that is, about half of the maximum that would be reached in the 1940s. Of that total, only 2,000 kilometers were state-owned. Around 60% were broad gauge, 10% international gauge, almost exclusively in Mesopotamia, and metric gauge just over 10% of the total.[45] The remaining 20% corresponded to other types of gauge, generally short sections of economic or industrial trains, with gauges less than a meter wide. 18 million passengers traveled annually and 11.8 million tons of cargo were transported.
The period of maximum expansion of the network ended shortly after the start of the First World War, due to the lack of investments and the generalized economic disorder that it generated. In 1912, 9,618 km of narrow gauge, 2,441 of medium gauge, and 19,682 of wide gauge had been reached, a total of 31,740 km, not counting the economic trails.[46].
Two lines trying to reach the Pacific
The Gran Oeste Argentino, awarded in 1887 the lines built by the State in Cuyo, had been founded that same year, and limited itself to administering the lines built by the State, at least until the first decade of the century, when it inaugurated a series of secondary branches, plus one of 184 kilometers to San Rafael "San Rafael (Mendoza)").[47]
Founded in 1872, the Buenos Aires al Pacífico company did not begin its work until 1882. The line started from Mercedes (Buenos Aires) "Mercedes (Buenos Aires)") – it entered the city along the Western Railway tracks – and its first section was completed two years later to Junín "Junín (Buenos Aires)").[48] In 1886 it installed gigantic railway workshops in that city, which reached employ 4,000 workers,[49] and that same year the line to Villa Mercedes "Villa Mercedes (San Luis)") was opened to the public, where it connected with the Andean Railway.[48].
In 1888, the railway obtained authorization to build an access branch to Buenos Aires – to a now defunct station in the Palermo neighborhood "Palermo (Buenos Aires)") – directly from Mercedes. Only years later were the last kilometers built, which gave access to the current terminal in Retiro "Retiro (Buenos Aires)").[n. 5].
In 1907, the Buenos Aires Pacific Railway bought and absorbed the Great Western Argentine.[47] But crossing to Chile through the Cordillera turned out to be a much more complex objective than anticipated.
The Central Norte and Central Córdoba railways
Since the 1860s there was a project to continue the Rosario-Córdoba line to the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, with the purpose of complementing the route of the Central Argentino. However, due to the very low value of the lands that were going to be annexed with the concession, which was the main source of financing for the new works, no company had interest in carrying out the project; exactly the same thing that happened with the train project to Chile. In October 1868, this second work was being discussed in the National Congress, and the idea had begun to prevail that it should be carried out by the National State, when the train to Tucumán was included in the same project. Ultimately, the project was approved three days before the inauguration of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento as president, and the following year studies for the layout began.[6].
In 1871, a national law ordered the State to contract with a private company the construction of a branch from Córdoba to San Miguel de Tucumán. It was concessioned to the company Tellfener y Cía, which built the first 400 km without problems, but then the economic crisis of the Avellaneda presidency occurred and the works were paralyzed.[6] While a furious campaign was unleashed in Buenos Aires against this railway outside the Pampas region, it was the Banco Provincial de Córdoba, founded in March 1873 with a majority of provincial capital, which contributed almost everything. the rest of the capital necessary to continue the work.[50] Although the government was dedicated to saving as much as possible, the rest of the capital was contributed by the national State thanks to the personal pride of Avellaneda from Tucumán.[51] The line of the Ferrocarril Central Norte Argentino to Tucumán was inaugurated with the presence of Don Nicolás on the last day of October 1876. At that time, it was the longest line in South America, since it had 547 kilometers.[52].
But the conflicts continued: Tellfener continued to accumulate debts, and at the end of that same year the State assumed direct administration of the company.[53] Some branches were built from the trunk line: from Frías "Frías (Santiago del Estero)") to Santiago del Estero, and from Recreo "Recreo (Catamarca)") to Chumbicha, where the carts arriving from Catamarca and La Rioja were transshipped, a short distance from this station, to which would be joined by another railway line years later. The idea was to continue north, so the section to Vipos was enabled in 1886, and the section to the Juramento station "Estación Juramento (Salta)") at the end of 1888. The railway gave more and more dividends, so the legislators, faithful to their liberal ideology, decided to privatize it: first they caused a loss by assuming unnecessary costs, and then they lowered all the rates - which were already the lowest on the market - without any justification. Only when its price dropped significantly, was it sold for a total of sixteen million gold pesos to a Mr. Hume, who agreed to invest another five million, forming a total of twenty-one million, on which the State guaranteed a minimum profit of 5%.[54] The only section that remained in the power of the State was that of Tucumán to the north. Hume transferred the business to a company incorporated ad hoc in London, called Ferrocarril Central Córdoba.
Railways for Mesopotamia
Argentine Mesopotamia was well connected with the rest of the country and with neighboring countries by the Paraná and Uruguay rivers; but there was a significant obstruction in the channel of the latter, in the waterfalls located in the northeast of Entre Ríos, which forced transfers from the lower channel to the upper channel, without which the east of the province of Corrientes would be isolated. A first project was authorized in 1864, and would run from Concordia "Concordia (Entre Ríos)") to Mercedes (Corrientes) "Mercedes (Corrientes)"); It was never built.[57].
With money from Urquiza and the ranchers in the area, a short stretch of roads was built from Gualeguay to Puerto Ruiz, called the First Entrerriano, to provide an outlet for wool and timber production in the south of Entre Ríos. But from 1867 the railway's accounts began to show a loss, and the revolutions of Ricardo López Jordán worsened the situation, so in 1877 it was absorbed by the national State.[58].
In 1869 Pablo Montravel was authorized to build the Eastern Railway; he had no intention of doing so, but instead transferred it to an English company, based in London, The East Argentine Railway Company Limited. For once, the Argentine government stood firm and forced the accounting to be in pesos, the headquarters to be in Argentina, and taxes to be paid to Argentina. The gauge chosen was the international gauge, that is, 1435 millimeters, which had not been used in Argentina until that time.[57] It was a railway designed to bridge the Grande and Chico falls, which interrupted the navigation of the Uruguay River for about 150 kilometers. The line was built in two stages at the beginning of the 1870s and began providing services in April 1875.[59] The company blatantly lied in its declarations of capital, expenses and income, but the permanent threat of the English consul to cut off credits to the country led the National Accounting Office to not control the accounts and pay the guarantees without questioning anything. Only in 1883, with General Julio Argentino Roca at the head of a stable and healthy State, was it decided to do the only thing that could be done in those circumstances: expropriate the company and its facilities.[40].
In 1886, a business group requested and obtained the concession to build two lines from Monte Caseros, one to Posadas "Posadas (Argentina)"), and the other to Corrientes "Corrientes (city)"); They would be of international gauge, to be able to use the tracks of the Eastern Railway, and it was called Ferrocarril del Nord-Este Argentino. The idea of getting to Posadas was to cross the Paraná River in front of that city by ferry boat, to reach Encarnación "Encarnación (Paraguay)"), and from there to Asunción. The latter suffered a severe delay because the 126 km stretch from Pirapó to Asunción was wide gauge, so the Argentine government ended up paying for the adaptation and, meanwhile, the transfers in Pirapó.[60].
Provincial railways
In 1883, a parallel line was added to the Argentine Central to the town of Casilda, the Santa Fe Western Railway. It had excellent yields because it crossed a purely cereal-growing area.[40].
In 1884, the owner of most of the trams in Buenos Aires, Federico Lacroze, obtained a concession for a railway that would depart from the Federico Lacroze station, passing through.
The service to Zárate, which was originally a secondary branch, ended up being the most important, since it linked Buenos Aires with the railway sections of Mesopotamia. For this reason, Lacroze built it on a medium gauge, which is what is used in Mesopotamia. Under the name Tramway Rural, the supposedly main line was built between San Andrés de Giles, Carmen de Areco, Salto "Salto (Buenos Aires)") and Rojas "Rojas (Buenos Aires)"), towns of smaller magnitude than those served by the Central Argentino. In 1906 it was called the Buenos Aires Central Railway, and the intention was to take the line to the province of Córdoba, with the idea of reaching Villa María. But once they entered the province of Santa Fe, having reached a point where they built the Cuatro de Febrero station, the financing and support company of this province was missing, the construction of the line was suspended indefinitely.[67].
At the end of the century, the province of Buenos Aires passed the Secondary Railways Law, which sought to promote railways intended to transport the harvest and serve towns in the interior of the province. In 1904, Enrique Lavalle obtained a concession to build a line from Puente Alsina to Carhué. As the name Ferrocarril Central de Buenos Aires was already used by the Lacroze line, Lavalle gave it the same name, but in English: Ferrocarril Midland de Buenos Aires. The work first arrived at the current Ingeniero Budge Station and from there they had a major conflict with a national company that wanted to force them to establish themselves further from their line. In 1908, completely lacking capital contributions, Lavalle announced that he was forced to stop the works. The company was since then managed by the Ferrocarril Oeste and the Ferrocarril del Sur, so that the line finally reached Carhué in 1911. Although it was useful for raising the wheat, corn and sunflower crops, as it only passed through one party head, - Henderson "Henderson (Buenos Aires)") - passenger traffic was very limited. It was one of the first branches of the General Belgrano Railway to be built, although currently, as part of the Belgrano Sur, it runs a limited route in the southwest of Greater Buenos Aires.[68].
Railways for national territories
In 1895, in the midst of a border conflict with Chile, the government proposed to the Southern Railway to continue the line that had reached Bahía Blanca since 1884, to Neuquén "Neuquén (city)"), for strategic and defensive purposes. The company's directors took advantage of their opportunity to demand much more generous conditions than until then, such as exemption from all national, provincial or municipal taxes, plus a non-refundable amount of $756,000 gold pesos, plus the right to extend the line in any direction they wanted. But, it is true, the first section, to General Roca "General Roca (Río Negro)"), was completed in record time, although it had to be inaugurated in Chimpay due to a flood of the Negro River "Río Negro (Argentina)").[69].
In September 1908, the Minister of Public Works of the Nation, Ezequiel Ramos Mexía, obtained the sanction of the Law for the Promotion of National Territories, which authorized the construction of railway lines in them,[70] and –the following year– Law 6,757, Organic Law of the State Railways, from which the complex system of trunks and branches in the north was unified. into a single state company, the Ferrocarril Central Norte, and the National Administration of State Railways "Ferrocarriles del Estado (Argentina)") was created.[71].
The line linking Formosa "Formosa (Argentina)") with Embarcación "Embarcación (Salta)") began in 1910, but could not be completed until 1931.[72] The line from Metán to Barranqueras had already been completed in the late 1910s.[73].
In 1908, construction of the line from San Antonio Oeste to San Carlos de Bariloche began, on Lake Nahuel Huapi, which is currently a large tourist center. The difficulties were enormous, since the closest port was in Viedma, there was a lack of drinking water in long stretches, and in some there was not even enough to charge the boilers of the locomotives, so the work progressed very slowly: until 1910 it had not been possible to lay a single rail, and only in 1917 did it reach the Huahuel Niyeu station, which years later was named Ingeniero Jacobacci station - after the name of one of the engineers of that line - still located 250 km from the destination in Bariloche. Years later, the narrow gauge line known as "la Trochita" would depart from that station. During the 1920s it extended to Pilcaniyeu, a period during which the area was visited by the future Edward VIII of the United Kingdom. The last section was built by the engineer Miguel Sanguinetti, and was officially inaugurated with the first trip of a train to Bariloche – although in this case it had left Pilcaniyeu. The complete work required 25 years and four months of work in extreme conditions. This line is currently the southernmost line that can be reached from Buenos Aires on the same train, and the first passenger recorded to make the entire journey was the architect Alejandro Bustillo, author – among other works – of the Bariloche Civic Center.[74].
Through the Andes
The Clark brothers were merchants from Valparaíso, who in 1871 had laid the first telegraph line across the Andes. Shortly after, they proposed to the Chilean and Argentine governments the laying of a railway line from Los Andes (Chile) "Los Andes (Chile)") to Mendoza, through the valley of the Mendoza River; They obtained the concession in 1872 and 1874.[78] But financial problems forced the work to be postponed until 1887, when the company was seized and the concession transferred to the Trasandine Construction Company, of England, which began the works in 1889. They advanced faster on the Argentine side due to the ease of climbing the valley of a large river with moderate slopes: in 1891 they reached Uspallata, and two more years afternoon to Punta de Vacas; From then on the slopes became much steeper, so they resorted to a racket to propel themselves, and to build bridges, tunnels and sheds, the latter to free the route from avalanches. So it was only in 1901 that Las Cuevas "Las Cuevas (Mendoza)" was reached. On the Chilean side, the slopes were steeper, zigzags had to be created for the steeper climbs, and massive use of the rack railway was made, so that it took longer to complete a shorter route.[79].
The tunnel of just over 3 km that crosses the border at 3,175 meters above sea level was inaugurated in 1809, and the complex was inaugurated on April 5, 1910, the anniversary of the Battle of Maipú, a few weeks before the Argentine Centennial celebration.[80].
There were other projects, such as the Southern Trasandino Railway, which intended to cross from Zapala to Victoria "Victoria (Chile)") through the Pino Hachado pass and the Las Raíces tunnel. It was abandoned at the beginning of the century, although a new attempt was planned at the beginning of the century, which also did not prosper.[81]
The Huaytiquina railway was designed in 1889 by the Algerian engineer Abd el Kader; It was abandoned at that time, and discussed for years afterwards. In 1907, the Chilean Emilio Carrasco achieved the approval of both laws in the congresses on both sides of the Cordillera and began the first works; but a few months later, the same Chilean Congress repealed the law, causing the bankruptcy of Carrasco's company.[82].
President Hipólito Yrigoyen, determined to differentiate himself from the conservatives of the time, ordered the studies to be restarted: the line would go up the Quebrada del Toro and pass into Chile through the Huaytiquina pass, close to the current Sico pass, to continue to San Pedro de Atacama. On the conservative side, Salta deputy Manuel Ramón Alvarado unconditionally supported the project and achieved the necessary majorities in Congress. Its construction was by the state-owned Ferrocarril Central Norte company, and it was planned and directed by the American engineer Richard Maury.[n. 6] The 1930 coup d'état stopped construction for six years, when it had only reached San Antonio de los Cobres and the spectacular La Polvorilla viaduct, 63 m high, and located at 4220 . The works resumed in 1836, but instead of going towards Atacama, they detoured south, on the way to Antofagasta, through the Socompa pass, at the foot of the Socompa volcano. It had a maximum slope of 25 percent, which was decreased even more in the curves, to compensate for the resistance they offered; The curves also had a limit, and none of them have a radius less than 130 m, so the resistance they offer is reduced. With this slope, a single locomotive per train was enough to climb from 1,420 in the town of Rosario de Lerma to 3,760 in San Antonio de los Cobres, and almost 4,300 in La Polvorilla.[82] It was completed and inaugurated in January 1948, after a final push that President Juan Domingo Perón ordered to give it.[83].